Kuranda is a plantation-turned-tourist village in the rainforest, where the Pamagirri tribe do some demos that bring together several elements of Aborigine culture. In addition to boomerang-throwing, they do a scaled-down version of a corroborree that includes the unique didgeridoo.
A ‘corroboree’ is like an American Indian pow-wow. A real corroborree is normally a non-stop, song-and-dance gathering, often sacred. It might be part of an initiation rite, preparation for a hunt, celebration of a victory, or perhaps a Dreamtime (Aborigine creation story) ritual. Participants are in full body paint, often carrying weapons.
Corroborree participant from the Walpiri Tribe
Part of the ceremony is the music of the didgeridoo. If you had your eyes closed and heard one, you would probably think, ‘Australia?’. The thing that surprised me is that it was a wind instrument. For some reason, the vibrating sound made me think of strings. The didgeridoo is a termite-hollowed eucalyptus (or bamboo) trunk from three to ten feet long; not likely to be in any marching bands.
The musician blows down the didgeridoo, buzzing his lips against the mouthpiece to produce a unique kind of drone (that my tin ear assumed to be strings). Sophisticated players are able to use ‘circular’ breathing: inhaling while exhaling. I understand some other wind instruments also involve this, but it sounds almost like magic to me.
To get an idea of what a didgeridoo sounds like, visit http://tinyurl.com/didgeridooDemo . And if you can figure out how the musician is making those other animal-like noises while he plays, please explain it to me, because, I admit, I still do not get it.
Scaled-down corroboree demos are interesting but don’t make great photos. For a better idea of what a corroborree *really* looks like visit. http://wollombi.org/corroboree.html .
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Next: The Great Ocean Road
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